Process for treating copper.



D. W. BLAIR.

PROCESS FOR TREATING COPPER.

APPLIQJ KTION FILED NOV.24,1 911.

Patvnted Apr. 15, 1913.

A I INVEIfTO/f ATTORNEPS furnace 1 vhic our STA lTtltl iflli iltcllll.

DAVXD WESLEY BLAIR, OF NEW YORK, N. 323., AESIGHOR, ZI-Y NEE-ENE ASSIGEMENTS, TU

JEZETALLUEGICAL RESEARQH CGIiLPANY, GEE lil'lili' i" ARIZONA.

YORK, ll. 31, Li. CURPUMATIQN 0F To all whom it may concern Be it known that l, Diwio Wesnur BLAIR, a citizen of the United States, residing at 3% Manhattan avenue, New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes for Treating Copper, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a method of treating copper and with respect to its more specific features, to a process for melting and refining copper. 1

time of the objects of the invention is to provide a continuous scribed. which will be simple and economical.

i rnother object is to provide a practical and efficient process of the type described which will exert a minimum deterioration on the Walls of the chamber in which it is carried out.

Another object is to provide a cheap and rapid process of the type described.

Otherobjects will be in part obvious an in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists-in the several steps and the relation and order of one or more of such steps with relation to each of the others thereof, which will be eliemplified in the hereinafter disclosed process, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims that follow.

in order to provide a more complete and readily understandable idea of some of the salient points of the herein-described process, a suitable novel apparatus in which it may be carried out is shown.

Referring to the accompanying dra.wihp',-Fi uure 1 represents a front; elevation oi the apparatus, a part being shown in section on the line mw of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 represents a sectional plan i'iew thereof, taken on the line 7 -g of Fig. 1: and Fig. 3 represeuts a side elevation thereof with a part broken away.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the various views of the drawing.

in the drawm is shown avertic'al u ri ht g g Specification of Letters Patent.

implication filed November 24%, will. file-rial filo. scenes.

process of the type de-- comprises an opening at Patented flips. i5, itilll.

the top 2 thronjh which the copper may be conveniently cl iarged, and a combustion chamber 3 in which is situated a fluid fuel burner 4t. As shown, the furnace is substantially rectangular in cross-section, and the combustion chamber, which is located near the bottom there-cit and projects latorally and in trout of the front wall of the furnace, is provided with walls 5 which converge away from the :t'urnacc and surround at their outer extremity an opening 6 through-Which the fluid fuel burner 4 projects. The bottom or floor of the furnace, denoted by ".1 is sloped toward the fluid fuel burner, as more clearly shown in The floor 8 of the combustion chamber adjoins and is preferably substantially a con tinuation of the floor 7 of the furnace. The itloor .of the combustion chamber slopes in substantially the same direction as the bottom of the furnace and is provided with a sloping passage or gutter 9 u'hich'passes from one side the combustion chamber transversely to the other side in a direct-ion substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the fluid t'uel burneiyuherc it emerges and joins a tube or conduit 10 which leads to an inlet in a horizontal refining furnace or chamber 11.

As shown in Fig. 2, the refining chamber is generally rectangular in form and is long, low and narrow. It. is provided with upright side walls 1:2, an arched top 13, upright end walls 1 1- and 15, and a bottom having' the form of an The inverted arch structure is made up preferably of blocks of refractory material and the arch structureitself terminates at either end against the side Walls of the furnace. It will be noted in connection With this structure that there is-substautially no opportunity for the metal contained in the furnace to force the blocks of the arch out of place, for if any metal descends bet-ween the blocks and collects thereunder, the pressure oi the metal on thsundcr side will be re- "sted by the inverted arch structure of the blocks. it will hence be seen that there is substantially no chance to contaminate the copper in the refining furnace by means of dislodged pieces of the lining of: the bottom and furthermore the life or". the lining will thus be increased. The upright front wall 15 is provided with a. combustioncliamber 17, projecting laterally in front of thefront wall, whose walls converge as shown to form an opening 18 through which projects a fluid fuel burner 19. As shown in Fig. 1,

der ordinary conditions, these two heating mediums will not. join until they meet in the 21, at a furnace 1. In this way the products of combustion of the two furnaces will not con-.

taminate the product of e itlier.-

The side wall 12 is provided with a tap dpoint about midway between the front an rear walls, through which the copper in the refining furnace may be tapped;

into suitable molds or other apparatus. In order-that the metal may be directed toward this tap, the inverted arched bottom of the furnace is sloped downwardly from the front end wall and rear end wall, respectively, to a line in a plane passing through the tap perpendicularly to the side walls. The slope from, the front end wall is designated a 22 (see Fig. 3) and the slope from the rear end Wallis designated 23. Along theabovementioned line, which. forms the juncture of these two surfaces, and transversely of the furnace, another sloped portion 24 is provided for the furnace bot-tom from a point opposite and in the rear of-thc tap toward the tap(see Fig. 1). The refining chamber 11 "is provide with a side door 25 through which instrrunents may be in- I troduced for conducting the process carchamber 5.

' sire ried on in the furnace. A panel 26 may be provided through which an operator may enter for repairs or other purposes.

.In carrying out the process of treating copper, the upright furnace '1 is first thoroughly dried and heated to a suitable temperature, preferably bymcans of the fluid fucl burner projecting into the combustion The rcfining'furnace is also similarly dried and heated. Cathode copper lates or copper plates of the kind deif are charged into the upright furnace through the charging opening 2 at the top thereof and melting of the copper is begun by causing the flame of the fluid fuel burner l to impinge upon the lower cathode plates. foe fluid fuel burner 4 is preferably sup plied with a hydrocarbon oil and'is preferably so regulated that the flame of the fluid fuel produces an oxidizing atmosphere within the combustion chamber. The copper is heated and melted in this oxidizing atmosphere by means of the highly heated products of combustion of the fuel supplied .the floor 8, until it reaches the gutter It passes through this gutter to the tube 10 and thence to the refining chamber 11, passing thereinto through the orifice provided therefor. -It is to be noted in-connection with this melting of the copper that a movement f the plates above the point of melting, or melting zone, occurs and an automatic feed of thecopper into this zone is thereby secured by gravity. The flame of the burner may be regulated to produce a comparatively high temperature with little, danger of deteriorating the inner walls of the furnace, for the copper melts and is removed sufficiently rapidly from the combustion chamber to a point exterior there- "of to provide little chance for radiation of the heat absorbed thereby to the walls of the upright furnace, with consequent eating away of these walls. The life and clliciency of, the furnace is consequently increased by just so' much. The melted copper delivered to the refining chamber will henco ordinarily contain an amount ofLslightly oxidized copper, and the process which is carried on in the refining chamber is intended to free the copper from such oxids and to render it pure. The melted copper is removed from the oxidizingatmosphere in the furnace 1 and entering the refining chamber is heated and maintained in its melted state by means of the fluid fuel burner 19, which is also preferably provided with hydrocar bon fuel and which is so regulated that it maintains a sufficiently high temperature in the refining chamber to secure the desired maintenance of the melted state of the copper during the processes of reduction, poling and tapping referred to below. Thecopper, having been received in the refining chamber, issubjccted to the influence of a reducing medium, which is profcrably carbon spread over or othcrwisc intimately comminglcd therewith, whose action is supplemented by subjecting the cop per lo a poling process, by means of which and the added carbon the osfid of the cop- 'per or other impurity is dccom osed, oxygen or other impurity is libcrater and passes off from the copper, and substantially pure copper is obtained. It is to be understood that any suitable reducing medium might be employed.

It has been found in practice that by either introducing oxygen into the copper in the melting furnace or in some manner insuring the presence of oxygen in the copper after melting, a means or controlling the process of refining in the refining furnace oosen is secured Foe enumple if the copper in on tbcmil'irorn the stream oi oxidized cop peer is continued from the Inciting furnace into the refining furnace and the cling o oration or WEdUQlJlQIl issuspcnd until t e oi": cei'bou is removed. Hence, the

of tlie buruerin the melting furnace l3 pieferubly so controlled that it 1s an oxidieing flame. The necessary carbon and the length of the paling pi'ocess generally be comparatively smell. H

After the copper lies been treated in the refining fumece, it is topped out and casting or other processes are curried on.

The heat which is supplied to the melted copper in the refining chamber is not liigh in temperature, and it has been found on practice, due partly to this fact, that the lining of the refining furnace will lastfor long period Without renewal. Under these conditions the product- Which is topped from the furnace after intermixture with carbon and site:- poling is a substuntizilly pure coppe r and contains practically no slog. This is on advantageous feature when compared with that of providing the bottom. of the furnace with a layer of refractory material, such us send. 7

The furnace of the resent invention may be operated Without slotting down for reor alterations for u comparatively ion" time, due partly to the before-mentions lie-sting conditions, and again to the form the furnace bottom, which, as mentioned shove, consists of blocks of refractory mu 1'; aced to form an inverted urcli end so pc honed with respect to the side Walls that l'llfll' is little chance for portions of it to become detached. and be comminglecl with the copper,

practice all the steps of the process, in-

eluding melting, ccmovingthe copper, refining, topping, etc, which have been described in detail above, are preferably conducted continuously.

economy in heat and hence in fuel is edected byv means of the due 20, throu h which tbeguses which have traversed t e refining cliumber pass and are conducted into contact with the coppcrcathodes at a point above the zone of melting, thus providing a pf'ebeating of these copper cutbodes and ulso scoring at the same time a due for the discharge of the products of combustion of the burner 19. It will thus be seen that a, simple process is prodded wherein the objects enumerated above, umong others, are obtained.

As many changes could be made in currying out {he above process without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrative end not ill a limiting sense, It is also to be understood that the nguagc used in the ob lowing claims is intended to cover all of the generic and s ecific features of the invention d and all statements of us herein descri scope of the invention, which as a matter of language, might'be said to ialltbercbetween.

Hauling described my invention, what I claim us new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: v

l. The process of treating cop r, which consists in meltiu copper in s, c ember by means of the high y located roducts of combustion of a hydrocarbou el regulated to produce an oxidizing atmosphere, thereby producing an amount of copper mud in said copper in suficient quantit to react with the carbon used in the mg process, removing the melted copper to :1. point exterior of said chamber, delivering the melted cop per into a refining chamber, subjecting the copper to the influence of carbon intimately comminglcd therewith, and poling said copper,

2. The process of treating cop er, which consists in melting copper in a c amber by means of the highly heated products of combustion of u hydrocarbon burner reguluted to produce an oxidizing atmosphere removing the copper to a clot exterior of said chamber, delivering t e copper into a refinin chamber, beating the copper while in sai refining chamber, subjecting the copper to the influence of carbon intimately commingled therewith, poling said copper,

cl1a.n1ber. v 3. The process of treating copper, which consists in meltin means of the high y heated products of cone bustion of a. hydrocarbon burner regulated to produce an oxidizing atmosphere, delis'cring the copper into a refining chamber, beating the cop 1: while in said refining chamber, and pc in the copper. I

l. Tlie process of treating copper, which consists in melting copper cathodes in an oxidizing atmosphere, removing the same from the oxidizing atmosphere, and poling the copper, while applying heat to ma ntain it in a molten condition.

- 5. The process of treating copper, whic consists in continuously melting copper cathodes in an oxidizing atmos here, removing the some from saidutmosp ere, poling the copper, while applying heat thereto to maintam it in a molten state, and continuously discharging the molten copper.

6, The process of treatin copper, which consists in continuously me ting copper in u chamber by means of't'hehighly eated products of combustion of a fluid fuel, removin the melted coppc' to a int exterior of sci chamber, contml usly delivering the melted copper into a refining chamber, subcopper in a chamber by je'ctmg' the copper to-the influence of carbon ntimately commingled therewith, and polsaid co er.

The PI ECBSSOf trcatin copper, which consists'in continuously me ting cop er in a chamber by mourns of the highly sated roducts of combustion of a hydrocarbon e1, continuously removing the copper to a point exterior of said chamber, continu ously deliveringthe copper into a refining chamber, heating thecopper while in said. refining chamber, sub'ecting the copper to the influence of car on intimately commingled therewith, polin said copper, and continuously tapping sai copper from said chamber. 8. T e process of treating copper, which consists in continuously melting copper 1n a chamber by means of highly heated prodnets of combustion, continuously removing the copper to a point exterior of said chamber, continuously deliverin the copper into a refining chamber, and p0 ing said copper. 9. The process of treatin copper, which consists in continuously me ting copper in a chamber by means of the highly heated products of combustion of s hydrocerbon burner regulated to produce an oxidizing atmosphere, thereby producing an amount. of copper oxid in said copper, and liberating the oxygen from.said oxid by commingling with the copper a quantity of can bon, and poling said copper.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signs 'ture, in the presence of two witnesses.

DAVID.WESLEY BLAIR Witnesses:

J. W. Anosnsoie L. A. WATSON. 

